The job is done

Mission accomplished: by beating Rustavi on their ground, following a 5-2 away victory last week in Georgia, Rennes has qualified for the play-offs round of the Europa League. However, Antonetti’s men haven’t exactly proposed an unforgettable show to a half-full Stade de la Route de Lorient.

Although the game started in a storm with Brahimi’s shot on the crossbar after only 2 minutes, the injury replacement of the latter in the first quarter of an hour (11’) may have cooled his teammate’s ardours. Nothing to bad finally for the Rennes striker, who remained in the stands to watch the lacklustre first half of a Stade Rennais lacking automatisms.

Costil put to the test

While the Breton attack struggled to gain real chances, Rustavi gave Costil a good opportunity to show his ability. The Rennes goalkeeper managed to tip the ball very well on a shot by Tatanashvili (15’), but he was beaten a few minutes later by the Rustavi striker, whose shot flew just outside the goal (24’). Rennes escaped a Georgian first goal by very little, while neither Camara, nor Mangane, could find the breach on the other side.

The second half gave Stade Rennes a chance to increase its domination and create many clear chances. Pitroipa came very close to scoring his third goal with Rennes, but he shot wide first (49’), then dithered too long and was caught by the defence (62’). Served by Féret, always at the right place in this game, Boukari was also given a chance but he stumbled on the Georgian goalkeeper (59’).

Two goals in ten minutes

It would finally take the replacement of the former Lens player by Montaño to see the latter score the first goal (1-0, 75’). The Colombian had not scored at the Route de Lorient since February 26th. An eternity. Rennes had finally managed to convert a chance, and they would increase their advantage on the scoreboard. Ten minutes later, Féret, at the receiving of Dalmat’s good pass, surprised Batiashvili with a hit from 16 metres (2-0, 85’).

Enough for Rennes to qualify for Europa League’s play-offs. Everything wasn’t perfect. But with a big victory on the first leg and a Ligue 1 game to play this Sunday, the context was probably not helping Antonetti’s players to give their maximum/

The “Rouge et Noir” will know their opponents in the play-offs on Friday. These will be played on August 18th and 25th. In-between, they will have to get ready for the league season, starting this week-end.

Match Facts

STADE RENNAIS FC 2 - 0 FC METALLURGIST RUSTAVI (Half-time: 0-0)

Europa League, third qualifying round, return leg
Thursday, August 4th, 19:00

Stade de la Route de Lorient
Attendance : 13 848 spectators

Referee : Mattias Gestranius

Goals : Montaño (75’) and Féret (85’) for Rennes.

Yellow Cards : Théophile-Catherine (38’) for Rennes ; Kavtaradze (22’), Modebadze (78’), Kobalia (83’) for Rustavi.

- Stade Rennais FC : Costil - Danzé, Mangane, Kana-Biyik, Théophile-Catherine - M’Vila, Tettey, Féret - Pitroipa (Dalmat, 73’), Boukari (Montaño, 64’), Brahimi (Camara, 11’).

Manager : Frédéric Antonetti.

- Metalurgi Rustavi : Batiashvili - Makhviladze, Lomaia, Orbeladze, Japaridze - Maisuradze, Kavtaradze (Aburjania, 77’), Modebadze (cap.), Mikaberidze (Dobrovolski, 56’) - Getsadze, Tatanashvili (Kobalia, 61’).

Manager : Armaz Jeladze.